Friday, July 3, 2009
Eve of Defeat
| In the late night of July 3, 1863, Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton made the decision to surrender Vicksburg, MS after 48 days of seige. July 4, 1863 dawned a day for the defeat of government by the consent of the governed and a victory for might makes right government power. When we consider the Independence Day holiday, we should remember what horrible suffering our ancestors were willing to suffer in the name of liberty and independence. The freezing winter at Valley Forge in 1777-1778 is a strong example of what an army is willing to suffer in the cause of duty. The 48 days of seige at Vicksburg showed what a free people, citizen and soldier alike, were willing to suffer for liberty and independence. Constant bombardment had forced the civilian population into caves dug into the hillsides. Food ran out and rats, cats, dogs and horses became the final sources of food. Living in mud holes eating rats was a fair price to remain free. It was starvation that eventually forced Pemberton's capitulation. His starving army became prisoners of war and the starving citizens became prisoners of military government that lasted nearly a decade. Their descendants refused to celebrate Independence Day for generations. It is interesting to note that Pemberton was a Pennsylvanian from Philadelphia. He resigned from the US Army to fight for Southern Indepedence. He believed that it was wrong to use force to subject a people to live under a government to which they no longer consented. He saw their struggle for Independence as akin to that which the Revolutionary generation fought to obtain. After his surrender at Vicksburg and exchange, there were no open positions for a man of his high rank, so he resigned it and re-enlisted as a colonel to continue the fight where there was an opening. He fought on to the very end, never surrendering his faith in the inalienable right of a people to "alter or abolish" any government that they feel is destructive of their rights. I'll be celebrating Independence Day, but I'll be mindful that unconditional subservience to the government is not the same thing as patriotism. Those who suffered and risked all for liberty and independence held those things more dear than any government, flag or name. That is our heritage and what we really are supposed to celebrate on the 4th. That is what I will be celebrating, even if it puts me on the government watch list. Sic semper tyrannis. Spes mea in Deo est; Deo vindice. |
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